The government plans to conduct a full public consultation into payroll giving later this year, once the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme is up and running.
HM Treasury wrote to all payroll giving agencies last week announcing that the consultation would launch before Christmas to explore how payroll giving might be made more effective and efficient.
Charities Aid Foundation, which runs Give As You Earn, the biggest payroll giving scheme in the UK, told civilsociety.co.uk today that it recently hosted a meeting of payroll giving agencies to discuss ways of working together to reform the system to make it easier and more attractive to businesses, employees and charities across the country.
The agencies are keen to pre-empt the consultation to try to unearth ways of improving the system.
John Low (pictured), CAF chief executive, said: “Ministers have stated that they are determined to ‘get serious’ about payroll giving. Agencies were asked in the spring to put forward realistic ideas for reform. In response, ministers have recently decided that the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme must be priority and that a full public consultation into payroll giving will now be published later in the year.
“We are, however, keen to drive this reform forward and believe that, working together, we can transform the system and make it simpler for millions more people to donate to good causes through their payroll.”
All registered agencies and professional fundraising organisations were invited to the CAF meeting. Those that attended were Workplace Giving UK, United Way Payroll Giving Service, Stewardship, Sharing the Caring, Payroll Giving in Action, Charities Trust and Hands on Helping.
CAF is also currently compiling a significant piece of research into payroll giving due for publication later in the year. It is described as “a reflective look at payroll giving and what lessons have been learnt since it has been in existence amongst all stakeholders”.
- The September edition of Fundraising magazine contains an in-depth look at the problems around payroll giving. Click here to subscribe.
